Embossing rollers for textiles



July-31, 1956 R HOFFMAN 2,756,669

' EMBOSSING ROLLERS FOR TEXTILES Filed Jan. 26, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet l I l-llll mm Illll INVENTOR. RAYMOND HoFF/wmv HTTOPNEY y 31, 1956 R. HOFFMAN 2,756,669

EMBOSSING ROLLERS FOR TEXTILES 14 TTOPA/E Y July 31, 1956 R. HOFFMAN EMBOSSING ROLLERS FOR TEXTILES 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. 26, I954 Q 5 8 T 5 5 Q INVENTOR.

A 0 YMO/VD Hon-"MAW flTTOP/VEY United States Patent EMBOSSING ROLLERS FOR TEXTILES Raymond Hoffman, Fair Lawn, N. 1., assignor to Associated Dye and Print Co., Inc., acorporation of New Jersey Application January 26, 1954, Serial No. 406,208

2 Claims. (Cl. 10125) My invention relates to the treatment of textile material and more particularly to a method and/or means of imparting a pattern or design to the material.

Heretofore, machines utilized for imparting, embossing or impressing patterns or designs onto or into textile material were, in many instances, each equipped with a pair of crown-shaped pressure rolls and a cylindriform impression or pattern roll interposed between the pressure rolls and coacting with the latter to emboss or impress the pattern on the material as the latter was fed between one of the pressure rolls and the pattern roll, the pattern roll being of a heavy construction and formed with a relatively thick and rigid peripheral wall. Machines of this kind have not proven entirely satisfactory for various reasons, for instance, the high cost of the pattern rolls not only with respect to initial production but for replacement occasioned by change of pattern; disuniformity in impressing or embossing the design on the material as the result of pressure variations caused by the crown and cylindrical shapes of the pressure and pattern rolls, respectively; considerable amount of time and labor required in the irksome task of substituting one pattern roll for another to effect change of design; constant attention required to maintain precisional adjustment and proper positioning of the pattern roll relative to the pressure rolls at all times in order to obtain some semblance of pattern uniformity; lack of means to provide the material with certain desirable finishes; and, in the majority of instances, to maintain a permanency of design or pattern on the material.

My invention overcomes the foregoing disadvantages and unsatisfactory results of such prior art machines, it being one of the objects of my invention to provide a machine or apparatus equipped with means for imparting a pattern or design to textile material and in a manner not only to obtain uniformity of the pattern but a permanency thereof as Well.

Another object of my invention is to provide an apparatus of the foregoing described character wherein the means for imparting the pattern to the material functions to apply a desirable and attractive finish to the material.

A further object of my invention is to provide a method whereby the design may be impressed within textile material with the various features of the design being of constant and uniform depths, respectively, throughout the length and width of the material.

An important object of my invention is to provide pattern or design imparting means which is simple in construction, durable in use, efficient in operation, economical in manufacture and which lends itself to incorporation within certain machines already in use without any substantial modification thereof.

With the above and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawings from which the several features of the invention and the advantages ice attained thereby will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

Referring to the drawings wherein like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views:

Figure l is a side elevation of a machine having my invention incorporated therein.

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the machine.

Figure 3 is a somewhat diagrammatic sectional view of the roll assembly.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the roll assembly.

In practicing my invention, as illustrated in the drawings, I provide a machine which may be said to be generally of the embossing type comprising a pair of spaced frame members 4 each having an upwardly extending standard 5 formed with a guideway or member 6 on its front face and on which is slidably mounted an upper bearing block 7 for adjustment relative to the standard. The upper face of the block 7 is provided with a collar 8 coacting with the lower end of a threaded rod 9 to constitute a swivel. The upper end of the rod 9 is threaded through a cross-bar 10 and secured in fixed relation thereto by means of suitable nuts whereby, upon adjustment of the bearing block 7 relative to the guideway 6, the bearing block is secured in fixed relation with the standard 5.

One end of the cross-bar 10 is fixed to the standard 5, while its opposite end has secured thereto the upper end of a supporting rod or member 11. The lower end of the rod 11 is fixed to a forwardly extending arm 12 constituting an integral part of the frame member 4 adjacent the lower end of the standard 5.

A lower bearing block 13 is slidably mounted on the guideway 6 subjacent the block 7 and in spaced relation therewith. The blocks 13 are connected by means of links 14 to the arms 15 of a yoke 16 pivoted to the frame members as at 17. One of the arms 15 is provided with a rearwardly extending portion 18 pivotly connected to the outer end of a piston rod 19 of a piston disposed within a cylinder 20, the latter being connected to an air source or other fluid medium for operating the piston to raise and lower the blocks 13 through the instrumentality of the yoke 16 and the links 14.

Interposed between the upper and lower pairs of bearing blocks 7 and 13 are upper and lower pressure rolls 21 and 22, respectively, the rolls, in the present instance, being constructed of compressed paper and crown-shaped whereby their intermediate diameters are greater than their end diameters. The rolls 21 and 22 are provided with shafts 23 rotatably journaled in the blocks 7 and 13, respectively. The shafts, adjacent one side of the machine, extend outwardly of the blocks and have keyed thereto sprockets 24 about which are trained a chain 25 to effect rotation of the rolls 21 and 22 at substantially identical speeds.

The shaft 23 of the roll 22 is also provided with a sprocket 26 connected by a chain to a drive sprocket 27 mounted on a jack shaft 28 rotatably carried by the standards and extending transversely thereof. The shaft 28 has keyed thereto a pair of sprockets 29, one of which is connected, by a chain 30,- to a sprocket fixed to the shaft of a wind-up or receiving beam 31 journaled in brackets 32 secured to the rear of the standards 5. The other sprocket 29 is connected, by means of a chain 33, to a sprocket 34, fixed to the drive shaft 35 of a power transmitting unit 36, the latter being connected to and operated by means of an electric motor 37.

The outer ends ofthe arms 12 have mounted thereon the shaft 38 of a supply beam 39 on which is wound a web of textile material M. Prejacent the roll 22, the frame members have connected thereto slack take-up means 40 through which the material M passes during its travel from the beam 39 to the beam 31, the latter being driven from the motor 37. To preclude overrunning of the beam 39, tension is applied thereto by a suitable tension device -as at'41. Inasmuch as the various components of the machine, as heretofore described and illustrated, are of an ordinary construction and operation and form no part of the present invention per se, a more detailed disclosure is not believed necessary.

The front faces of the guideways 6 and the rods 11 have secured thereto brackets 50'to which are fixed inwardly extending bars 51 having their inner ends secured to plates 52 vertically adjustably secured to cross-beams 53. Each of the cross-beams is provided with apair of oppositely disposed sliding adjutable blocks 54 secured in their adjusted positions by means of bolts 55 and capable of endwise adjustment by. means of adjusting screws 56. The blocks have secured thereto the ends of stub shafts 57 on which are mounted rollers 58, the latter being arranged in spaced relation below and above the adjacent ends of the rolls 21 and 22, respectively. The rollers 58 and rolls 21 and 22 cooperate to cage and maintain, between the rolls 21 and 22, a pattern roll 60 with the latter being provided at its ends with tracks 61 for tracking engagement with the rollers 58, the latter being adjustable relative to the roll 60, by the blocks 54, to properly position and maintain the roll 60 between the rolls 21 and 22.

Extending through the pattern roll' 60'is a perforated conduit 62 constituting a burner, one end of the conduit extending through a vertically elongated slot 63 in the adjacent beam 53 and plate 52. The conduit 62 is connected to the upper end of a supply conduit 64 for supplying gas or other suitable fuel to the burner for heating the roll 60. The roll 60 is constructed of metal, for instance, brass, and has a relatively thin peripheral wall to provide an appreciable degree of flexibility to permit the roll 60 to conform to the contours of the rolls 21 and 22, it being understood that the roll 22 has suflicient pressure applied thereto, by the aforementioned fluid medium, to flex the roll 60 and maintain it in a flexed condition during its rotation with the rolls 21 and 22.

When the roll 60 is thus maintained and operated between the rolls 21 and 22, it assumes, between its ends and in transversality, a substantially elliptical shape by reason of the pressure applied thereto by the rolls 21 and 22. The outer peripheral face of the roll 60 is provided with a pattern in the usual manner, for instance, by engraving or etching and, if desired, chromium-plated or otherwise treated to protect the pattern against harmful or foreign matter and the like.

When the roll 60 is then assembled between the rolls 21 and 22, the machine is operated in a manner to feed the material from the supply beam 39 to the receiving beam 31 by passing the material between the lower pressure roll 22 and the pattern roll 60 whereby the pattern contained on the roll 60 is imparted to the material, it being understood that the roll 60 is sufliciently heated to press or otherwise iron the design into the material and in a manner to effect permanency therein together with uniformity of design throughout the material, and, at the same time, impart a desired sheen or lustre as a finish.

To preclude axial creeping of the pattern roll 60 towards one side of the machine, believed to be ocassioned by the direction or rotation of the rolls during feeding of the material, a thrust bearing 65 is provided and which thrust bearing is connected to the adjacent frame member 4.

Without further elaboration, the foregoing will so fully explain the invention that others may, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt the same for use under various conditions of service. Moreover, it is not indispensable that all the features of the invention be used 4 conjointly since they may be employed advantageously in various combinations and subcornb'inations.

It is obvious that the invention is not confined solely to the use herein disclosed in connection therewith as it may be utilized for any purpose to which it is adaptable. It is therefore to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific construction as illustrated and described, as the same is only illustrative of theprinciples involved which are capable of extended application in various forms, and the invention comprehends all construction within the'scope of theappended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A machine of the class described, a pair of spaced frame members, a pair of spaced pressure rolls disposed between said members and with at least one of said rolls being slidable relative to the members,,a pattern roll disposed between and in engaged relation with said pressure rolls, said pattern roll extending in substantially coaxial relation with said pressure rolls and provided with a flexible metallic surface having a pattern thereon, rollers carried by said members and engaging said pattern roll, said rollers extending in substantially coaxial relation with said rolls and coacting with said pressure rolls to define a cage to maintain said pattern roll therein and between said pressure rolls, said rolls coacting together upon application of pressure transmittedby one of said pressure rolls' to said pattern roll by textile material interposed between said rolls to effect flexing of said surface during rotation of the latter with said pressure rolls whereby said pattern is imparted to textile material during feeding of the latter between a pair of said rolls, and pressure applying means connected tosaid slidable roll for applying pressure to said rolls.

2. A machine of the class described, a pair of spaced framemembers, a pair of spaced parallel disposed pressure rolls extending lengthwise between said members and with at least one of said rolls being slidable relative to the members, a hollow pattern roll disposed between and in engaged relation with said pressure rolls, said pattern roll extending in substantially coaxial relation with said pressure rolls' and provided with a flexible metallic peripheral wall having tracks extending about said wall at the ends thereof and with said wall having an outer surface formed with a pattern thereon, roller mountings adjustably connected to said frame members, rollers carried by said mountings and engaging said tracks for tracking engagement therewith, said rollers extending in substantially coaxial relation with said rolls and coacting with said pressure rolls to define a cage to maintain said pattern roll therein and between said pressure rolls', said rolls coacting together upon application of pressure transmitted by one of said pressure rolls to said pattern roll by textile material interposed between said'rolls to effect flexing of said wall during rotation of said pattern roll with said pressure rolls whereby said pattern is imparted tov textile material during feeding of the latter between a pair of said rolls.

References Cited in'the file of thispat'ent UNITED STATES PATENTS 51,774 Adams Dec. 26, 1865 223,337 Gmeiner Jan. 6, 1880 1,208,815 Mertens Dec. 19, 1916. 1,709,967 Ballou Apr. 23, 1929 1,867,861 Mollet July 19, 1932 2,370,186 Oldofredi' Feb. 27, 1945 2,593,149. Illner Apr. 15, 1952 2,662,002 Sunderhauf Dec. 8, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 151,425 Germany July 5, 1902 

1. A MACHINE OF THE CLASS DESCRIBED, A PAIR OF SPACED FRAME MEMBERS, A PAIR OF SPACED PRESSURE ROLLS DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID MEMBERS AND WITH AT LEAST ONE OF SAID ROLLS BEING SLIDABLE RELATIVE TO THE MEMBERS, A PATTERN ROLL DISPOSED BETWEEN AND IN ENGAGED RELATION WITH SAID PRESSURE ROLLS, SAID PATTERN ROLL EXTENDING IN SUBSTANTIALLY COAXIAL RELATION WITH SAID PRESSURE ROLLS AND PROVIDED WITH A FLEXIBLE METALLIC SURFACE HAVING A PATTERN THEREON, ROLLERS CARRIED BY SAID MEMBERS AND ENGAGING SAID PATTERN ROLL, SAID ROLLERS EXTENDING IN SUBSTANTIALLY COAXIAL RELATION WITH SAID ROLLS AND COATING WITH SAID PRESSURE ROLLS TO DEFINE A 